Flow of Ideas: Economic Societies and the Rise of Useful Knowledge

Francesco Cinnirella, Erik Hornung and Julius Koschnick

No 17442, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: Economic societies emerged during the late eighteenth-century. We argue that these institutions reduced the costs of accessing useful knowledge by adopting, producing, and diffusing new ideas. Combining location information for the universe of 3,300 members across active economic societies in Germany with those of patent holders and World's Fair exhibitors, we show that regions with more members were more innovative in the late nineteenth-century. This long-lasting effect of societies arguably arose through agglomeration economies and localized knowledge spillovers. To support this claim, we provide evidence suggesting an immediate increase in manufacturing, an earlier establishment of vocational schools, and a higher density of highly skilled mechanical workers by mid-nineteenth century in regions with more members. We also show that regions with members from the same society had higher similarity in patenting, suggesting that social networks facilitated spatial knowledge diffusion and, to some extent, shaped the geography of innovation.

Keywords: Economic societies; Useful knowledge; Knowledge diffusion; Innovation; Social Networks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N33 O31 O33 O43 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-07
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Related works:
Working Paper: Flow of Ideas: Economic Societies and the Rise of Useful Knowledge (2022)
Working Paper: Flow of Ideas: Economic Societies and the Rise of Useful Knowledge (2022)
Working Paper: Flow of Ideas: Economic Societies and the Rise of Useful Knowledge (2022)
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